Radio, mistakenly considered dead, is that medium that will prevail even when any other goes down. Television can be censored, postal mail can be intercepted, the internet can be interrupted, but radio travels free through propagation and although it can be attempted to sabotage through interference, it is almost impossible for its waves not to reach their destination, that's why it is such an effective medium even today.
Radio as a medium of propaganda
Since the beginning of radio in 1906, the governments of each country have used radio to spread their interests within and outside their borders. Thanks to the short wave (shortwave) or high frequency (HF) and its ability to send the signal to different parts of the world traveling in the ionosphere, many countries keep their international stations on the air. Groups and organizations throughout the planet have also used these high frequencies of propagation to get a political and informative message to a certain public in countries lacking democracy or where there are political or armed conflicts. These are called clandestine broadcasts, which, with or without the support of the government of the country from which they transmit, would be prohibited in the territories to which they are directed.
Throughout contemporary history the number of clandestine radio stations has been cataloged in the thousands, having its highest peak of activities during the Cold War, where the East and West sides fought for control of Western Europe and a little more here in the American continent. Thus, from countries of the communist bloc or the allied borders, in international waters or from the hidden of jungles and forests, different fronts launched their propaganda messages as if they were missiles or ammunition, they were, after all, one more weapon within the war, a powerful and effective weapon that acts psychologically.
Signals to Cuba
Cuba has not been absent from this phenomenon of clandestine broadcasts, in February 1958 a voice appeared in the ether of the Caribbean nation from the Sierra Maestra, Ché Guevara was founding Radio Rebelde in Los Altos de Conrado, thus the voice of the army Fidel Castro's rebel was traveling the island from end to end aboard an American transmitter of the Collins brand, model 32-V-2. Starting the first clandestine station with programming directed to Cuba.
Image source: http://www.radioing.com/collins/tx06.html
After the revolutionary triumph in January 1959 and its twist towards communism, the Cuban opposition in exile also began to use clandestine broadcasts to Cuba as an alternative form of information to the government-controlled media inside the island. The first of them dates from May 17, 1960, and it was a short wave station operated by the CIA under the name of Radio Swan and broadcasting from the Swan Islands in northwestern Honduras, Radio Swan or “Radio Cisne” was in charge. CIA agent David Atlee Phillips and some Cuban exiles. Its broadcasts ceased in 1967 after its name was changed to Radio Americas.
The golden age of clandestine broadcasts to Cuba
After the disappearance of Radio Swan, many were the small clandestine anti-Castro stations that tried to fill the void, by the end of the '70s there were so many in operation that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had to intervene due to the complaints of the Cuban government. and part of the population of Miami on the interference caused by these emissions. In the early 1980s, FCC officials located the station causing the most interference. It was Radio Libertad Cubana and its announcer José Gonzáles, alias 'Comandante David' who was arrested for having illegally operated said station, but his lawyer informed the FCC that the White House was aware of his activities and encouraged him to continue with After a meeting that lasted more than eight hours, the judge dismissed the case.
As a result of the case of Commander David, new clandestine broadcasts to Cuba began, in Havana, they also redoubled the protests against them and, when they did not receive a response about the radio activities against the regime, Cuba withdrew from the regional radio broadcasting agreement. North American. Some of the most prominent Anti-Castro stations of the time were:
La voz de la junta patriótica cubana
Radio antorcha martiana
La voz de Cuba libre
La voz del CID, Cuba independiente y democrática
Radio Camilo Cienfuegos
The voice of the CID was maintained for ten years (1981-1991) broadcasting from Venezuela thanks to the support of the government of that country, while Radio Camilo Cienfuegos maintained programming for several years almost 24 hours a day for the 9940 kilohertz.
Emissions today
After the golden age of clandestine broadcasts to Cuba (golden age for radio too), the transmissions, although in smaller numbers, have not ceased and it is that even when the arrival of the internet on the island has displaced the used analog media to access information (in addition to the absence of short-wave receivers in Cuban stores), many Cubans remain glued to the dial, even if it is for dxing (a hobby of listening to long-distance broadcasts).
Radio Marti
At present, three stations continue to broadcast for Cuba, the most famous of them is Radio Martí, which has been working uninterruptedly 24 hours a day since its foundation under the presidency of Ronald Reagan at a time when there was marked activity of dissent. Cuba and there were signs of the communist debacle in Eastern Europe. Through an executive order in 1981, Raegan created the presidential Commission for broadcasting to Cuba, then in September 1983, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the president's plan to establish a radio station exclusively for Cuba. On May 20, 1985, Radio Martí was going on the air, keeping up to date and transmitting around 13 different frequencies, some of them are 6030 kHz, 7365 kHz, 13605 kHz, 11930 kHz ... It also has satellite transmission and real audio on the internet.
Although today shortwave broadcasts do not have as much audience as at the end of the 20th century, at that time they enjoyed good reception rates on the island, where people hid in groups to listen to Radio Martí programming and find out what was happening from one side of the Florida Straits to the other. Martí played an important role when the rafters crisis in the '90s. Both in the daytime and the early mornings, wiretaps were on the lookout for reports of arrivals of Cubans to the coasts of Florida and also to the sadness of relatives and friends, highlighted the disappeared on that journey.
Radio Republic
The second clandestine station that continues to transmit to Cuba is Radio República, the voice of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, founded in August 2005, this short-wave station transmits on 9490 kHz in the 31-meter band and with a presence on the wave average thanks to the La Poderosa 670AM. Radio República has a political and religious programming to the Island lasting one hour, from Monday to Wednesday from 1:00 to 2:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and from Thursday to Sunday with two hours from 1:00 to 3: 00 UTC. The voice of the Cuban democratic directory is maintained thanks to donations from exile and the members of the Directory.
Radio Freedom
Finally, Radio Libertad is broadcasting through the airtime rental service of the private short-wave station WRMI Radio Miami Internacional, with political and news programming from Monday to Friday from 23: 30–00: 00 UTC. Radio Libertad consists of a news bulletin delivered via software (presumably Loquendo) and pre-recorded programs. Its operator is Eng. Pedro Peñaranda.
Interferences from Cuba
Image source:https://k0lwc.com/direction-finding-points-to-cuba-jamming-ham-radio-frequencies/
Of course, the Cuban government has taken measures to stop the transmission of these emissions to the territory of the largest of the Antilles. From the complaint to international organizations to direct interference in the frequencies and transmission schedules of these stations. The type of interference that is used in Cuba is that of Jammer or jamming, which consists of transmitting a layer of noise on the frequencies where clandestine stations normally transmit and thereby preventing the listener from obtaining reception from them. This noise is a mixture of morse code and electrical noise that, although produced at high frequencies, is rarely harmful to health.
Even so, and as I said at the beginning of this article, you can try to interfere with the radio, but not silence it, as it is enough with an improvement in the reception antenna of the equipment or simply changing its position so that it avoids the interference of the jammer and good reception is produced.
Final notes
Hopefully, this article will be helpful and interesting for the reader, if so it will serve as an invitation to the radio waves and to scrutinize this exciting world of underground broadcasts. The radio still holds many secrets that are there waiting for someone to discover them.
This material has a purely educational concept and should not be considered as a problem for the security of any country or property of the operators of these stations, all the information used exists in a public way on the internet and its sources are detailed below.
Sources:
Collins 32-V-2 transmitter [https://www.collinsradio.org/cca-collins-historical-archives/the-equipment-of-collins-radio/the-black-boxes/32v-23/]
La Voz del CID (Cuba Independiente y Democrática) [https://cubacid.com/]
Radio Martí, (Wikipedia) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_y_Televisi%C3%B3n_Mart%C3%AD]
Radio República, (Directorio democrático cubano) [https://directorio.org/page-18369]
Episodio IV: La Radio Clandestina en Centroamérica (radio documental, “la radio en la oscuridad”, Radio Netherlans, 1989) [https://lagalenadelsur.wordpress.com/2019/03/22/la-radio-en-la-oscuridad-documental-de-radio-nederland-wereldomroep-1989/]
Emisiones Clandestinas a traves de la Historia (David Marugan @Radiohacking) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsxPHdk5ICU]